By Andrea Saula
Hello and Welcome. You are listening to UN Radio in
Kosovo.
Kosovo Albanian (on the streets of Pristina): "Minority
rights are the same as the rights of the majority. It’s the right to have a
job, for example."
Question (UN Journalist, Andrea Saula): "Have
you ever heard for the European conventions on Protection of National minorities
and for the Prevention of Torture?"
Answer (Serbian voice in the enclave, Gracanica):
Just a bit. Something from the newspapers but I don’t know a lot.
As August drew to a close, Kosovo joined its
European neighbors in ratifying an agreement on human rights conventions. The
UN administration in Kosovo signed an agreement with the Council of Europe that
puts into place key methods for protecting human rights in two key areas.
The first is the Framework Convention for the
Protection of National Minorities, and the second is the European Convention
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Treatment.
Signing this bilateral agreement provides practical
ways to monitor human rights abuses through conventions established by the
Council of Europe - the continent’s oldest political organization, founded in
1949. The CoE counts 45 European countries as members.
Scheyer - "The main benefit is that the
people of Kosovo will enjoy the same rights and protection as all European
citizens. This was not obvious before, due to a very special situation
resulting from Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council."
Mark Scheyer, Council of Europe political advisor
speaking from his offices in Strasbourg, France.
Because of Kosovo’s undetermined political status
as an UN protectorate, Conventions on human rights cannot be signed directly by
the local government. Which, according to UNMIK spokesperson Mechthild Henneke,
is why the UN administration decided to sign the agreements.
Henneke - "UNMIK is pleased that through
these bilateral agreements a way has been found of extending the benefits of
these conventions to Kosovo. This relates also to the technical arrangements
that are provided in the agreements to allow the monitoring in Kosovo."
But what does this all mean for the people of
Kosovo?
It means that the rights and freedoms of Kosovans,
much like the 800 million Europeans under the Council of Europe umbrella, will
now be monitored by independent international entities.
Council of Europe political adviser, Mark Scheyer
says that under the Anti-torture Convention, the CoE’s Committee Against
Torture will now have the right to visit Kosovo for monitoring and advisory
purposes.
"On the other Convention UNMIK and the
Provisional Institutions of Self Government will have to report regularly on
the way they implement the rights and liberties secured under the Framework
Convention for National Minorities including particular use of language and the
way they can participate in political life, the rights in the area of education
and the Committee of Council of Europe will come and review on the spot this
implementation and will make recommendations for further improvement of the
situation of national minorities."
Someone who asserts that the current human rights
situation in Kosovo should improve is Ombudsperson Mark Antoni Nowicki.
He thinks that a great deal of the responsibility does rest with the local
institutions, but as the peoples lawyer, Nowicki places ultimate responsibility
on the UN administration - the defacto enforcement arm for these human rights
conventions.
Nowicki - "The responsibility, as for
everything, is on UNMIK - responsibility towards the international Community
and the responsibility towards the people living in Kosovo. Of course to
certain level and in the frames of their competences provisional
self-government institutions will share this responsibility but as the final
responsible as in every context it is UNMIK."
Greeting the signing of this agreement as a positive
step towards more western European standards, Bexhet Shala with Pristina’s NGO
“Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms,” is among a chorus of
people expressing grave doubts about the implementation of such an agreement.
Shala -
"These Conventions SHOULD be signed by the administration but no
one can either guarantee or create mechanisms for their implementation. Local
structures don’t have competencies, local authorities do not control the
judiciary and security elements but they are the part of the UN reserved
powers."
Currently, the Council of Europe is working to
establish the Committee Against Torture. They hope to begin monitoring human
rights activities in Kosovo by 2005.
This concludes today's edition of UNMIK On-Air. Be
sure to tune tomorrow for UNMIK’s inaugural edition of Week in Review, a weekly
review of news in and around Kosovo.